MAJOR UPDATE: People Can Steal My Work and Republish It On Medium And I Can’t Do Anything About It

Medium finally suspended the plagiarist's account. Praise kittens.

Licensed from Adobe Stock // Drobot Dean (Because, you know, I believe in crediting people for their work)

Hey, everyone! You can steal my work and Medium won’t do anything about it. Let the ransacking, free-for-all commence! Feel free to pillage the portfolio I’ve spent six years building because my hard work is yours for the taking. Don’t worry, pet, you’ll get away with stealing my work and maybe you’ll make some money off it behind the paywall. As long as you’re brazen enough to claim my work is yours, Medium won’t care. #IncomeStreamsForTheWin

Let me explain. I wrote an article that some douche bro reposted under his profile and the only changes he made were a new title and graphic. Then he had the audacity to drop a comment on my article linking to his theft. Of course, I can’t post his name, a screenshot of the article he stole, and my correspondence with Medium because that violates his rights on the platform.

Because a thief’s rights matter more than mine. Do I have to be Brianna West or someone famous on this platform to ensure my work is protected from thieves? WHY ISN’T MY WORK PROTECTED?

So I filed a DMCA takedown notice with Medium, alerting the platform of the fact that this asshole…